March 28 (Bloomberg) -- OW Bunker A/S shares surged as much
as 19 percent on its first day of trading in Copenhagen after
the marine fuel provider was listed in Denmark’s second-largest
initial public offering since 2010.

The shares rose 15 percent to 167 kroner at 9:46 a.m. after
the Noerresundby, Denmark-based company earlier sold shares at
145 kroner apiece. The price was at the high end of the
indicative range of 120 kroner to 150 kroner set last week,
valuing the company at 5.33 billion kroner ($980 million).

Altor Equity Partners AB, a Stockholm-based private equity
company, sold 17.9 million shares and OW Bunker is issuing
759,000 new shares giving a free float of 52 percent, or 60
percent if an over-allotment option is exercised. It’s the
Nordic country’s second-biggest IPO this year after ISS A/S went
public last month in a 21.9 billion-krone listing.

“Demand for the OWB share has been great with
oversubscribing throughout the whole offering,” Alm. Brand
Markets, which recommends clients to buy the stock, said in a
note to investors. “This bodes well for short-term share price
gains.”

Private-equity firms have returned to the European IPO
market as the region emerged from its economic slump. IPOs in
the region have raised more than $14 billion this year, up
fourfold from the same period in 2013, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.

OW Bunker competes with World Fuel Service Corp. and Aegean
Marine Petroleum Network Inc. and sells about 7 percent of the
fuel used by the world’s fleet. Its sales rose 20 percent to $17
billion in 2013, making it Denmark’s largest listed company
based on revenue after A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S. It reported net
income of $63.4 million compared with $42.7 million in 2012.

After ISS, OW Bunker’s IPO will be the biggest since the
2010 listings of Chr. Hansen A/S and Pandora A/S.